[Statement] We strongly condemn the Ministry of Justice for bringing about the sudden death of Mr. A, a foreign national held long-term at the Hwaseong Immigration Detention Center. – The Korea Refugee Rights Network will fight to establish the truth, to hold those responsible properly accountable, and to achieve fundamental improvement, for Mr. A and for the foreign nationals who are wearing down day by day inside detention facilities and drawing closer to death.
At around 5 a.m. on October 18, Mr. A, an Iranian man in his late fifties who had been detained for one year at the Hwaseong Immigration Detention Center, died at a hospital in Incheon, and his body was sent back to his home country after his bereaved family urgently entered Korea. It was three days after Mr. A, who had been in a holding room inside the center, complained of abdominal pain on October 15 and was taken to the hospital. The Korea Refugee Rights Network, which has defended the freedom and human rights of foreign nationals unjustly detained for long periods and has fought for institutional improvement, prays for the repose of the deceased, who met a sudden death in a distant foreign land, and offers its deep condolences and sympathy to the bereaved family.
The cause of Mr. A’s death is reported to be acute heart failure caused by an external infection. Out of respect for the family’s wishes, no autopsy was performed, so a more precise cause of death has not been established. However, Mr. A’s health had been steadily worsening since he entered the center. Recently he had symptoms of cataracts and received hospital treatment. The fact that Mr. A, who had been detained inside the center for one year, died of an external infection clearly shows that the poor conditions of the immigration detention center were the direct cause that led to Mr. A’s death.
Contrary to its name, the immigration detention center (“protection center”) is not a “protective” environment at all. Detainees must live all day in a narrow holding room with strangers, which causes great stress. The provision of food and clothing is not sufficient, and medical services are the worst. Even a healthy person who stays here for a long time cannot help but become unwell. In such a place, Mr. A was detained for a full year, and during that time his body’s resistance and his overall health declined.
Yet, as in Mr. A’s case, even when a detainee is ill, he must pay the entire cost of treatment himself in order to receive treatment at an outside hospital. It is also difficult to obtain the center’s cooperation for going out to an outside hospital. Those who cannot afford the full medical costs, to which insurance does not apply, can only rely on the infirmary inside the center, and both its staff and its equipment are at a poor level. At the Hwaseong Immigration Detention Center, one doctor treats anywhere from 300 to as many as 500 detained foreign nationals. One cannot expect any treatment beyond receiving basic stock medicines. Does this make any sense?On June 24, a foreign national detained at an immigration detention center in Omura, Japan, died during a hunger strike. People are wearing down day by day and dying day by day inside the centers, in a blind spot created by the convenient choices and policies by which administrative authorities, at their discretion, use detention of foreign nationals to deport them easily.
The death of Mr. A was perhaps a foreseeable event that could have happened at any time to any detained foreign national. In 2015 as well, a Moroccan national held at the Hwaseong Immigration Detention Center died. Immigration detention centers were originally built for the purpose of detaining people for a short time in order to make repatriation easy. However, because people who cannot return for reasons beyond their control continue to be detained without any time limit, there are close to 10 foreign nationals inside the Hwaseong Immigration Detention Center alone who, like Mr. A, have been held for more than a year.
The Ministry of Justice must apologize deeply for the death of Mr. A and prepare fundamental measures to prevent recurrence. It must deeply reflect on the fact that, after the death of a Moroccan national in 2015, a foreign national in its custody has died again at a center. Above all, it must secure the staff and budget needed to establish an effective, prevention-oriented medical system, including amending the current Immigration Act, which sets no limit on the period of detention.
The activists of the Korea Refugee Rights Network once again commemorate the late Mr. A and share the immeasurable grief of his bereaved family, and will fight to establish the truth so that Mr. A’s death is not easily erased, to hold those responsible properly accountable, and to achieve fundamental institutional improvement to prevent recurrence.October 19, 2019. Korea Refugee Rights Network (공익법센터 어필, 공익변호사와 함께하는 동행, 공익사단법인 정, 공익인권법재단 공감, 공익인권센터 드림(DREAM), 국제난민지원단체 피난처, 글로벌호프, 난민인권센터, 대한적십자, 동두천난민공동체, 사단법인 두루, 세이브더칠드런, 순천이주민지원센터, 아시아의 친구들,아시아평화를향한이주MAP, 이주여성을위한문화경제공동체 에코팜므, 안산시글로벌청소년센터, 이주민지원공익센터 감동, 의정부 EXODUS, 이주민지원센터친구, 천주교 제주교구 이주사목센터 나오미, 재단법인 동천, 제주평화인권연구소 왓, 초록우산어린이재단, 파주 EXODUS, 한국이주인권센터, 휴먼아시아)